New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misusing his official position to build a personal database on millions of Indians, drawing counter-allegations but no clarification or legal action from the government.

"Modi misusing PM position to build personal database with data on millions of Indians via the NaMo App promoted by Government. If as PM he wants to use tech to communicate with India, no problem. But use the official PMO APP for it. This data belongs to India, not Modi," the Congress president tweeted in the morning.

In another tweet, he said: "Modi's NaMo App secretly records audio, video, contacts of your friends & family and even tracks your location via GPS. He's the Big Boss who likes to spy on Indians. Now he wants data on our children. 13 lakh NCC cadets are being forced to download the APP."

Union information and broadcasting minister responded with a taunt: "@RahulGandhi ji, even 'Chhota Bheem' knows that commonly asked permission on Apps don't tantamount to snooping."

But the government neither issued a denial nor a clarification on the allegation.

The privacy policy on Modi's website and Twitter handle was quietly changed, after a French security researcher said user data was being shared with third parties without consent, an allegation Rahul flagged on Sunday. The privacy policy, which earlier said users' personal information would not be shared without consent, now says that the data may be processed by third parties. The government has not commented on the change in privacy policy.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said on Monday: "This is the biggest assault on privacy by the government. The Government is anyway leaking like a sieve and now the Prime Minister is spying on citizens for political purposes. Any responsive and responsible government would have come up with action and safeguards but we find only digression, deflection and counter-allegation."

Singhvi continued: "There could be various means of communication between the Prime Minister and the citizens. Even if an app-based channel is preferred, there is an official PMO India app. Why a separate NaMo app? Reports said today the PMO app requires 14-point access but the NaMo app seeks 22-point access, ranging from wide-ranging personal details."

Asked about the BJP's charge that the 'WithINC app' run by the Congress was also sending data to a Singapore firm, Singhvi said: "The comparison is odious. The WithINC app was started on a trial basis and only 15,000 downloads happened. When we realised our people don't prefer app-based membership, we abandoned it. There have been over 50 lakh NaMo app downloads."

The Congress denied the charge of snooping, said the app had been dysfunctional since November 16, 2017, and pulled it out on Monday.

It said in a statement on its Twitter handle: "WithINC app was being used for social media updates alone since transitioning the membership to the website. This morning we were forced to remove the app from the Playstore as the wrong URL was being circulated & people were being misled. This was a membership app & has not been in use for over five months."

The party added: "There has been no breach of data whatsoever."

Singhvi said the issue was the "government's intention and agenda". "The NaMo app records audio, video, contacts of your friends & family and even tracks your location via GPS. What is the purpose?" he asked.

Singhvi further asked: "Why does Modi, in his own book 'Exam Warriors' urge students to download the NaMo App? Is he now planning to snoop on minors? Data of at least 13 lakh NCC cadets, which include mobile numbers and email ID are being given to the Prime Minister's Office for interaction. Why?"